My Response to "Justin, I love you & I got your back"

It seems like the Justin Bieber posts just keep on coming. I know I already commented on one, but Elisa's post got me a little bit worked up, so I felt the need to comment again on the young man who is becoming the most talked about figure in the class.

Here is what I had to say:

I have to say I was somewhat offended by what you wrote. Here are some excerpts that I took particular offense to:

“I feel that a lot of people ‘hate’ on Justin Bieber because they are motivated by being a part of minority group that doesn’t like him. Specifically teen-aged boys that use a lot of homophobic rhetoric to make fun of Justin or his music which is not only inappropriate because they are discriminating against the homosexual community but...let’s face it...Justin can pretty much get more girls that any single man in the world at this time!!! My point is that I don’t feel that anyone has any real basis to hate on Justin.”

I am going to assume that you are a fan of his. That is fine. I like plenty of things that other people have “hated on,” and I understand the need to defend your likes. But to make a statement that male teenagers hate Justin Bieber because he can get more girls than them is specious at best. I am sure there is some jealously there, but at the end of the day, random male teenagers and Justin Bieber are not pulling girls from the same pool.

Your comment also says nothing of adults who dislike Bieber. I am an adult that is not a fan, but it has nothing to do with jealously. I just do not like the kid’s music. I do not think there is anything wrong with not liking an artist just because he happens to be “a good kid.”

You might not feel that people have a reason to dislike Justin Bieber, but I am sure if you were to ask those that do, they would have reasons. You might not agree with their reasons, but they probably do not agree with your reasons for liking him.

“I feel that people are too hard on this seventeen year old kid that has so much talent and is just trying to pursue his dream.”

Why does Bieber get a pass because he is talented when we never afford that to any other talented individual? I have seen criticisms of many other supremely talented people – even more talented than Justin Bieber – that have been criticized for much less than Bieber gets criticized for. Talent does not get to be a force field to protect one from criticism.

In your second paragraph you ask a lot of questions of others, but provide no answers. I am not necessarily criticizing you for that – I would not have the answers either – but I think that if you are going to say that other students may have made erroneous judgments on Bieber’s AMA performance of “Pray” and the accompanying music video, you need to go out of your way to find out what the facts are before criticizing others. You criticized those that made assumptions but then used assumptions to prove your case.

You have made a lot of accusations at people who are not fans of Bieber’s that I think are unfair and unwarranted. As I stated before, I understand the need to defend what you like, I just think, perhaps, you could have gone about it better. But that is just my two cents.